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Monday, January 19, 2015

This comes a little late, but as Nick wrote, bird bloggers are obligated to write a year-in-review post. So here it goes. As far as I can tell, 2014 was the first year since I started birding that I did not record any life birds. However, I did have some success locally and found eight new birds in Middlesex County.

Species

Place

Date

Red-necked Grebe

Edison Boat Launch

15 Feb 2014

Hooded Warbler

Donaldson Park

07 May 2014

Short-billed Dowitcher

South Amboy Waterworks Park

10 May 2014

Black-billed Cuckoo

Highland Park Meadows

22 May 2014

Alder Flycatcher

Highland Park Meadows

22 May 2014

Philadelphia Vireo

Ayres Beach

19 Sep 2014

Sedge Wren

Donaldson Park

20 Oct 2014

Orange-crowned Warbler

Ayres Beach

24 Oct 2014

I ended 2014 with 243 species in Middlesex County, which is more than I thought was possible when I started to focus more on county birding a few years ago and 200 seemed like a distant goal. I also saw some new birds in neighboring counties, including nine in Somerset County and six in Union County.

According to eBird's new Target Species feature, my next ten birds in Middlesex are likely to be:

Barnacle Goose

Northern Shoveler

Pectoral Sandpiper

Eastern Meadowlark

Mourning Warbler

Cattle Egret

Snow Bunting

Ring-necked Pheasant

Black Tern

Yellow-throated Warbler

I am not sure that I agree with that list, but those birds seem as likely as any others that I have not yet seen in this county.

Red-necked Grebe in a snowstorm at Edison Boat Basin

For the most part, chasing rare birds took a back seat to another project: the 100 Bird Challenge. I wanted to improve my bird photography skills, for my own satisfaction and also so that I would have an easier time documenting rare birds. So early last year I decided to try a photo big year, but with a set species goal of 100 bird species. I did not know at the time whether that was a reasonable goal, but it meant that there would be two measures of success: reaching the species goal and improving the quality of my bird photos.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve

With regard to the first goal, I easily surpassed 100 species and ended the year with 140 species photographed. My 100 species was the Ruby-throated Hummingbird shown above, which I photographed on July 12th.

American Coot at Donaldson Park

In terms of improving quality, the results were mixed. Towards the end of last year, I took some pretty good photos, like the American Coot shown above. But even then, I was still producing bad photos of species that were too distant, out of focus, or simply uncooperative.

Orange-crowned Warbler at Ayres Beach

However, attempting the challenge did push me to try photographing birds that I would not have attempted to photograph before, such as small, fast-moving warblers. As a result, I was able to document two of my three Orange-crowned Warbler sightings when an unusually numerous wave pushed through the region last fall.